In 2015, the fish catch increased be 5% in Russia. According to Ilya Shestakov, Deputy Minister of Agriculture of the Russian Federation and Head of the Federal Agency for Fishery, the catch of the Pacific and Atlantic herring increased by 4% up to 427,000 MT, the catch of sprats – by 62.5% up to 104,000 MT, the catch of shrimp – by 17% up to 14,400 MT, the catch of mackerel – by 10% up to 212,000 MT. As of December 23 the total catch was 4.33 million tons of fish, which is 5% more than the same date last year.
Shestakov also said that the supply of products to the domestic market increased by 220,000 MT compared to 2014 which helped partly compensate the lack of fish and seafood caused by the Russian food ban. In particular, the volume of herring, supplied to the domestic market, rose by 72% compared to 2014 – in total, more than 230,000 MT, the volume of pollock increased by 26% to 241,000 MT.